


The Chance of Love

by hmmmaybenot



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Established Relationship, Falling In Love, Fluff, M/M, Reminiscing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-02
Updated: 2018-09-02
Packaged: 2019-07-05 19:47:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,172
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15870510
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hmmmaybenot/pseuds/hmmmaybenot
Summary: A story of how The Captain of Rakuzan Basketball Club managed to fall in love with The Captain of Seirin Basketball Club, all because of a quote said by some other captain from far away land.





	The Chance of Love

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by [this quote](https://www.flickr.com/photos/hermelaa/7801956556/sizes/l/in/photostream/) (which is one of my favorite sport quotes of all time). Title's a song by TVXQ (one day, I'll come up with my own made up title, I promise).

“Happy anniversary, Kouki.” Akashi said, giving Furihata a kiss on the cheek.

They were in the middle of their usual weekend date, and currently sitting at the cafe, when Akashi suddenly pulled Furihata closer and whispered.. _what?_

Furihata blinked. He glanced at his phone to check the date. Today was not.. their anniversary though, as far as he remembered. Did he forget something?

Maybe it was something else. Not the day Akashi officially became his boyfriend. He took his phone closer to his face to look at the date again and frowned, trying to remember what exactly he was missing.

Akashi pulled away and sipped his coffee calmly, albeit with a cheeky grin plastered on his face, clearly amused. He then leaned his head on his hand and continued observing his fidgety boyfriend from his seat.

“You alright, love?”

Furihata turned to face him and chuckled awkwardly.

“A-ah, um..” He scratched the back of his neck nervously, avoiding eye contact. “No.” He bit his lip and took a breath before finally meeting Akashi’s eyes. “I’m sorry but I can’t remember what’s special about today.”

Akashi was again reminded about one of the reasons why he loved this guy so dearly.

It was the way Furihata always cared about his feelings.

The fact that he was so worried Akashi would be upset if he forgot something as important as an anniversary showed how much he cared. Akashi wouldn’t lie, he would be upset if Furihata forgot about special days. He knew Furihata would be upset too if it was reversed, but probably not as much.

Truth was, Akashi was actually the most sentimental, out of the two of them..

.. Also the most dramatic, according to Furihata.

It toned down though, over the years. Furihata constantly reminded him to not overthink. If he was ever upset about something, try not to think about it too much, try to let go, try to relax and forgive. If it was unbearable, then talk, don’t keep it in.

Easier said than done, obviously. He didn’t think anyone could have actually done something like that perfectly, sentimental or not. Being upset was normal, but he thought he was better at handling it. He was more understanding and forgiving these days.

All thanks to Furihata, of course.

Akashi looked at his boyfriend fondly and let out a small laugh. Today was special yes, but it was special _to_ _him._ So no, Furihata didn’t have to worry about forgetting things. In fact,

“Actually Kouki, I will be surprised if you know what’s special about today.”

Furihata looked even more confused now. “What do you mean?”

Akashi reached out to touch Furihata’s hair and played with the strands. “On this day, four years ago..” He paused, trying to make it dramatic (he could see Furihata’s eyes were about to roll because of this antics). “.. I fell in love with you for the first time.” He finished, smiling softly.

Furihata’s eyes widened at that. _What?_

Akashi gave him another amused look before telling him the tale.

 

* * *

 

_Akashi breathed in, trying to calm himself. It was especially hard somehow, being calm. It probably had something to do with his opponent today._

_Seirin._

_That Seirin. The team that beat him, that beat Rakuzan for the first time, last winter._

_They didn’t get to meet at all at Interhigh (in which Rakuzan came out as the champion, again) since Seirin was already beaten in the quarter final._

_So, this was their first meeting after almost a year. He had every right to be nervous, honestly._

_It was super early too, today was the first match of Winter Cup and they already faced each other. Akashi wondered, was that a blessing or a curse?_

_The sound of Seirin team entering the court cut his internal musing. His nervousness doubled at the sight of his opponent, before it was slowly replaced by an excitement._

_An excitement to take revenge._

_Akashi smirked. He might not be as ruthless as his old self, but he was still the Akashi, still the best point guard of the generation, still the captain of the mighty Rakuzan._

_And he was going to destroy them Seirin team, without an ounce of mercy._

_He observed the entirety of Seirin with his ever watchful eyes. He expected that Kagami wouldn’t be there, since he already moved to America, but found himself still surprised at the sight. First of all, it was certainly not Hyuuga who wore number four. And then, uh.. he couldn’t actually spot any single third-year in the team? There were so many unfamiliar faces. What happened?_

_He saw Kuroko doing a bit of warmup and decided to come up to greet him (and ask him questions, obviously), but before he reached his destination, the new captain (it was Kuroko’s friend, Furihata, he realized) called his teammates to form a circle._

_Ah, Akashi thought, it was time for motivational speech from the captain._

_Furihata began talking and Akashi, for some unknown reason, stopped in his track and decided to listen._

_“Um, alright guys.. I’m not exactly sure what to say since I think we all already know why we are here.” Furihata said, clearly nervous. His teammates lightly chuckled to maybe ease the tension (and because this opening was kind of funny, actually). “Like, it’s common sense? We play a game and the goal is to win, obviously.” He continued, more confidently this time._

_Akashi felt his lips turned up a little. He was right. It really was that simple._

_“But I do think I need to say something. It’s a.. reminder? Sort of.” Furihata breathed in, and smiled. “Play for the name on front of the shirt, and they will remember the name on the back.”_

_Akashi’s eyes instantly widened at that. And for another unknown reason, his heart started to beat really, really fast. It wasn’t the nervousness coming back, he was certain. It was something else. And it had something to do with this new, super cool (?) captain of Seirin._

_“We-well technically, we don’t have our name printed on the back, but you get the point.” Furihata ended his speech.. and was met with silence. “Uh.. you get it, right?” He asked, uncertain._

_Small laughs were then heard in that circle, followed by a round of nods, and Akashi swore he felt the entire Seirin team’s spirit lifted up significantly._

_“No one’s bigger than the team.” Kuroko answered, smiling slightly._

_“That’s it!” Furihata grinned widely and gave Kuroko a thumbs up. He then moved his hand to the center of the circle. “For Seirin.”_

_Soon enough, hands were stacked up on top of Furihata’s, before the whole thing ended with excited murmurs. “For Seirin!”_

_Akashi felt himself freeze on the spot. He clutched his chest. He knew he just witnessed something amazing and it stirred something inside him. He focused on Furihata. He could only see his back from where he stood (still frozen by the way). The number four looked glorious on it. Furihata then turned around and they ended up making eye contact._

_And at that moment, Akashi finally realized what was happening to him for the last three minutes (and would probably keep on happening to him in the future)_

_He was falling in love._

 

* * *

 

Furihata facepalmed. “I can’t believe you fell in love with me in that match. Also, how come I just knew about this?”

Akashi pouted and pinched Furihata’s cheek. “Your reaction disappoints me Kouki. It was my precious memory, you know. And to answer your question, I never told you this before today, because I just remembered about this recently, when I was looking through my old photo album.”

“Sorry Sei,” Furihata smiled sheepishly, “but it was my debut as a captain and my performance was an absolute disaster at that time. I honestly.. don’t share the same sentiment.”

Akashi hummed. He remembered Rakuzan’s victory. But he was otherwise preoccupied with the thought of one Furihata Kouki throughout the whole match, it actually overshadowed everything.

“We lost by thirty points,” Furihata continued a bit sadly, “and it was my first and only time facing Rakuzan as captain in official game, I didn’t get another chance to show improvement.”

Akashi sighed. He felt that this conversation was going to the wrong direction. He gave Furihata a reassuring smile. “Since I fell in love with you, I watched you play so many times, and I’m proud to say that I witnessed each and every improvement you made.” He grinned in hope to lighten the mood. “And from one point guard to another, I gotta say I was very impressed.”

Furihata looked at him hopefully. “You really mean that?”

“Of course.”

Furihata instantly lit up and grinned. “Thanks.”

Akashi sensed the change of mood and decided to continue to make it even better. “And from one captain to another, that quote you said about teamwork was super cool Kouki, I think that was the exact moment you stole my heart-” Furihata scoffed at that cheesy line and Akashi had to pause to pinch his cheek again. He nodded obediently and gave Akashi a small grin, urging him to continue. “-I’m serious by the way, I will never, in a million years, came up with such motivational quote by myself.”

Furihata stared at his boyfriend for a moment before he laughed. Akashi blinked at the reaction, confused.

“Oh God, Sei, you really have no idea do you?” Furihata said in between his laughter.

Akashi frowned. “What?”

“I got that quote from the internet! It was my debut as a captain, remember? So I did a little research.” He grinned. “If I remember correctly it was said by.. Tony Adams? Yes, I think that was his name.”

“Tony Adams?”

“A footballer from.. England, I think. Also a captain. He retired years ago though.”

Akashi shook his head negatively.

“He played football, he was literally from a different world. It’s understandable you don’t know about him.” Furihata finished with a chuckle.

 _Oh, that made sense_ , Akashi thought. He then gave a small nod and got back to sipping his (now) cold coffee, trying to process everything he just learned about the event four years ago.

“So.. you really fell in love with me because of a stolen quote, huh? I kind of feel like a fraud now, sorry about that.” Furihata commented teasingly.

Akashi already decided, a long time ago, that falling in love with Furihata was the greatest blessing he could ever receive. He never really care that much about anything else. He was grateful every day that it actually _happened_ at all.

“The cutest fraud that is.” He murmured.

Furihata then blushed and tried to avoid eye contact again. _Truly the most adorable_. This time it was Akashi who let out a small laugh.

It was silent for a moment before Furihata started talking once more. “I still can’t forgive all the third-years for retiring at the same time and gave me the captaincy just before the match against Rakuzan though.”

Hearing that, Akashi suddenly remembered about his own unanswered question. “Oh right, what was up with that? I was surprised to see none of the third-years showed up in the match.”

“It was Seirin rule. All third-years in our school must retire from the club before the new year. Winter Cup was held from late December until the middle of January that year-”

“The first two matches were held on December though.” Akashi cut him off.

“That’s right, but the senpais decided to retire early, choosing to not participate at all. They all had their own reason, of course, but I have this suspicion that it was half intentional, knowing our first match without them would be against Rakuzan. It was almost as if they wanted us to experience the most extreme thing as soon as possible, in order for us to grow up.” Furihata explained bitterly.

Akashi chuckled at that. It was such an interesting mindset. “It worked out quite well though, I think? Seirin got third place at Interhigh in the following year under your captaincy.”

“Still!” Furihata huffed.

Akashi chuckled again. Furihata still looked adorable even when he was annoyed. He kissed his boyfriend lightly on the lips. He couldn’t help himself. When he pulled away, Furihata was completely red all the way to the tip of his ears. A combination of the shock of the unexpected action and his shy nature when it came to PDA. Well, Akashi had to wait until they were alone before he could continue then.

When Furihata finally managed to calm down, Akashi decided to comment on the matter, for one last time. “I suppose I have to thank your senpais then, for the chance to fall in love with you.”

Furihata only stared at him before he let out a snicker. “I suppose so.” He paused for a moment before he gave Akashi a cheeky grin. “And Tony Adams.”

Akashi let out a small laugh at that and nodded. “And Tony Adams.” He grinned back, agreed.


End file.
